Collating and binding systems are well known in the printing industry for mass producing printed products, such as booklets, magazines, catalogues, advertising brochures and the like. Typically, one or more sharply folded and generally pre-printed blanks or signatures are sequentially fed by a number of spaced signature feeders. The signatures are delivered such that the signatures come to rest upon a collating conveyor which travels past the signature feeders. The conveyor gathers the signatures, one on top of the other, into a book block and moves the book block to a binding station where a cover is applied.
Recently, it has become desirable to secure items to printed products. As used herein, the term item refers to any object that is attached to a printed product by means other than by binding, and that is smaller (e.g., in surface area) than the printed product to which it is attached. For example, it may be desirable to secure a credit card, envelope, sample packet, computer diskette, musical CD, or other items to printed products. In order to accomplish this, it is known to glue the items directly to the individual signatures, one at a time, and then transport the signatures in a shingled stream to a downstream operation (e.g., the gatherer).
It can be appreciated that the transport of signatures from the attaching device to the subsequent operation can be difficult in view of the fact that the signatures have protruding items attached. This can result in problems associated with smooth transport of the signatures, particularly in a shingled stream. The problem is particularly evident in the case of magazine covers, which are typically fed individually from a stack by a cover feeder. Items secured to the covers tend to interfere with feeding the covers from the stack. U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,633 provides an apparatus and a method, in one aspect, to alleviate this problem by securing items to the covers after the covers are fed from the corresponding cover feeder, and before the covers are secured to signatures or book blocks.
Securing items to printed materials provides promotional and advertising benefits. However, existing apparatuses and methods often position items in areas of the printed materials other than the covers because this can be easier and more efficient to accomplish. In such cases, the items are not readily visible to subscribers or prospective purchasers absent the printed materials being opened- As a result, the initial advertising or promotional value of securing an item to a printed material is reduced.
Many existing apparatuses and methods require separate processes or processing lines to insert and secure items to printed materials and thereafter affix the created assemblies to book blocks. In other words, many existing apparatuses and methods require off-line procedures or separate processes if it is desired to secure items to the printed materials thereby diminishing the overall potential profit margin. Off-line procedures or separate procedures result in, as can be appreciated by those skilled in the art, among other things, increased production time and expenses.
Other known apparatuses and methods secure items to printed materials in off-line procedures but require a large amount of additional paper or stock which is then manipulated multiple times to provide a holding area for the items. As can be appreciated, using more paper or stock adds undesirable costs to the overall end products.